Fox 2000 Readies MR. ED Feature Film

If you found yourself put off by the lack of talking horses in the latest trailer for Steven Spielberg’s War Horse, fear not. Fox 2000 is bringing the language enhanced Mr. Ed to the big screen. THR reports that a live-action family film version of the 1960s TV show is in the works, with David Friendly (Meet Dave)and Jim Mahoney set to produce. The filmmakers will be using a real horse, as in the TV show, but instead of peanut butter they’ll be using CGI to animate the stallion’s mouth. No writer or director are currently attached, as it’s early days, but Friendly and Mahoney are apparently big Mr. Ed fans as they’ve spent several years trying to secure the rights to the series. No word on what direction the film will take, but we can reasonably assume that Eddie Murphy will want to star as the goofy father-figure.